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John Bacchus Dykes

1823 - 1876 Person Name: John B. Dykes Composer of "BEATITUDO" in The New Hymnal for American Youth As a young child John Bacchus Dykes (b. Kingston-upon-Hull' England, 1823; d. Ticehurst, Sussex, England, 1876) took violin and piano lessons. At the age of ten he became the organist of St. John's in Hull, where his grandfather was vicar. After receiving a classics degree from St. Catherine College, Cambridge, England, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. In 1849 he became the precentor and choir director at Durham Cathedral, where he introduced reforms in the choir by insisting on consistent attendance, increasing rehearsals, and initiating music festivals. He served the parish of St. Oswald in Durham from 1862 until the year of his death. To the chagrin of his bishop, Dykes favored the high church practices associated with the Oxford Movement (choir robes, incense, and the like). A number of his three hundred hymn tunes are still respected as durable examples of Victorian hymnody. Most of his tunes were first published in Chope's Congregational Hymn and Tune Book (1857) and in early editions of the famous British hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern. Bert Polman

William Hiram Foulkes

1877 - 1961 Author of "Gird us, O God, with humble might" in The New Hymnal for American Youth Born: June 26, 1877, Quincy, Michigan. Died: December 9, 1961, Smithtown, New York. Buried: Smithtown, New York. Foulkes graduated from the College of Emporia, Kansas, in 1897 and went on to the McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois; he received the Bernadine Orme Smith Fellowship, and studied for a year at New College in Edinburgh, Scotland. He later pastored at Presbyterian churches in Elmira, Illinois; Portland, Oregon; New York City; Cleveland, Ohio; and Newark, New Jersey. He served as General Secretary of the Board of Ministerial Relief and Sustentation (1913-18), as chairman of the New Era Movement, on the General Council of the Presbyterian Church, and as moderator of the General Assembly (1937). Lyrics: Gird Us, O God, with Humble Might Take Thou Our Minds, Dear Lord --www.hymntime.com/tch/

Calvin Weiss Laufer

1874 - 1938 Person Name: Calvin W. Laufer Composer of "PANOPLY" in Hymns of the Christian Life Presbyterian minister and hymnographer Calvin Weiss Laufer was born today in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania in 1874. Following his graduation from Union Seminary in 1900 he was ordained into the Presbyterian ministry and led congregations in New York and New Jersey for several years. Laufer had a generally cheerful outlook on his Christian life, and his first two books, Key-Notes of Optimism (1911) and The Incomparable Christ (1914) expressed that viewpoint. A review of the first book spoke of the "crisp and stirring note in these sermonettes which is well calculated to rouse the mind of readers and banish dejection." His books were popular in their time but today are seen as somewhat superficial. He later began to work with the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education and became its editor of musical publications, producing books such as The Junior Church School Hymnal (1927), The Church School Hymnal for Youth (1928) and When the Little Child Wants to Sing (1935). He was also the associate editor of the Presbyterian Hymnal of 1933, a very popular book which was used in many churches for more than fifty years. In 1932, his book Hymn Lore was published, which contained the stories of fifty hymns from The Church School Hymnal for Youth, with information about their writers and composers (much like this blog). He chose a broad range of hymns, some quite modern and others well-known and loved for centuries. Several of them were by his mentor and friend Louis F. Benson, who had edited the Presbyterian Hymnal of 1895 and its 1911 revision (and also wrote The Best Church Hymns). In the preface to Hymn Lore, Laufer wrote: To live with hymns and to make them one's own is the only sure way of appreciating their literary beauty and spiritual power. (...) That the reading and singing of hymns may become less mechanical, more thoughtful and intelligent, and emotionally more effective, this volume is released to the public. Laufer wrote both hymn texts and tunes himself, most of which first appeared in the books he edited but also had some life outside Presbyterian circles. This tune was written while Laufer was attending a conference in Kansas, though with no particular text in mind. Not long after, he hummed it to a friend, William H. Foulkes, who then wrote the text "Take thou our minds, dear Lord." Laufer's tune was originally called STONY BROOK, but he changed it to honor a friend, William Ralph Hall. Little is known about the writer May Pierpont Hoyt. Her text is generally sung to the tune BREAD OF LIFE by William F. Sherwin, but since that tune is more known with "Break thou the Bread of life," this text could use a different one. --conjubilant.blogspot.com/2010/04/

Alfred J. Eyre

1853 - 1919 Person Name: A. J. Eyre, 1853-1919 Composer of "SELBY" in At Worship Born: October 24 1853, Lambeth, England. Died: October 11, 1919, Lower Norwood, England. Buried: Elmer’s End Cemetery (also known as the Beckenham Crematorium), Norwood, England. Eyre studied at the Royal Academy of Music & served as organist at St. Peter’s, Vauxhall (1867-72 & 1874-81); St. Ethelberga’s, Bishopgate (1872-74); St. John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, London (1881); & at the Crystal Palace (1880-94). --www.hymntime.com/tch